Bruce Again
by ecwecwecw1
Summary: After the Hulk is turned back into Bruce Banner, Bruce and Betty spend sometime alone together to reconnect. Takes place during the episode "Banner Day" one-shot, BrucexBetty.


**This is my fanfiction on Bruce and Betty from the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "Banner Day" I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

"Injection in 5, 4, 3,"

 _'This is it,'_

"2, 1."

The injection fired right at Hulks body. When it pierced his skin, the Hulk could instantly feel the gamma inside his body starting to change. It caused him great pain. He yelled out and began thrashing his head around. If the rest of his body wasn't strapped down, he would have probably gone on an out of control rampage because of the pain.

When everything from the needle had been injected into his system, the pain slowly started to subside. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. He could definitely feel something happening inside him. Suddenly, the gamma radiation built up, sending him into a blind rage. He broke free of his restraints and began smashing. The Hulk couldn't even remember where he was or what he was doing. He was just destroying anything that was in his path.

"We need to stop him before he smashes the whole world."

 _'I know that voice. That's Rick.'_ Hulk thought, as he continued smashing the ground beneath him.

"He just needs to bring the gamma levels up in his cells for the serum to take effect."

 _'Betty, what is she doing here? What Serum?'_

It was starting to come back to the Hulk. He came here to turn back into Bruce Banner, in order to make a difference. So, for the serum to work, he needed to bring his gamma levels up. He continued to smash the ground until he felt his body run out of energy. He collapsed on the ground, barely conscious.

As he laid there, he could feel the gamma in his body starting to dissipate. He felt his body slowly beginning to shrink. Once everything in his system calmed down, he got up into a sitting position. He opened his eyes and looked at his hands. Even with his vision being blurred he could tell that he was no longer green. The plan worked. He was human again. He was Bruce Banner.

"Bruce!"

Bruce felt something being put over his shoulders. He lifted his head and looked around. He could make out Betty standing right behind him. He gingerly stood up, his legs feeling weaker than they have in a long time. Bruce turned to face her, resting his aching head on her shoulder. He could feel Betty wrapping her arms around him.

He slowly pulled away to look her in the eyes. "You did it Betty."

"No Bruce," Betty replied, putting her hand on his shoulder. "You did it."

* * *

When they had gotten back to their base in Vista Verde, Jen and Rick thought that it would be a good idea to give Bruce and Betty some alone time. Skaar went along with the idea, deciding that he would take the time to look for Hulk. Though, he was curious as to why they had brought the "Puny human" to the base in the first place. Red protested to the idea of leaving his daughter alone with Bruce but Jen had dragged him away kicking and screaming.

Bruce was currently in the kitchen, getting two glasses of water for himself and Betty. Betty was sitting on the couch in the other room, making herself comfortable. He walked in and handed her one of the glasses.

"Thanks," Betty said, taking the glass out of his hand. Bruce smiled and sat down next to her. "So this is the base for 'The Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'?" she said as she took a drink of her water.

"That's right, this is your first time seeing it isn't it?" Bruce said.

"Technically no. I have seen it when I watched Rick's web series."

 _'That's right,'_ Bruce thought, taking a sip of his water. Rick had made that whole web series to show people that the Hulk was not the monster people perceived him to be. Now that he has turned back into a human, the whole experiment had become kind of waste.

"So, what do you think of it?" he asked. "Is it all that the web series makes it out to be?"

Betty smiled. "It looks bigger in person then it does on my computer but I guess it has to be too be able handle five Hulks and a dinosaur living in It." she replied. "Speaking of which, where is that dinosaur that you keep as a pet? I would love to see it up close."

Bruce smiled. "I will introduce you to Devil tomorrow."

"Thanks." she said. "So what does the S.M.A.S.H. in 'The Agents of S.M.A.S.H.' stand for anyway?"

"It stands for supreme military agents of super humans." Bruce replied.

"That's quite cleaver. Who thought of that?"

"Well Rick thought of the name but he thought of the actual acronym before we thought about what it actually stood for."

"I see," she said through a chuckle. There was a pause between them. "What was it like being the Hulk?" Betty asked, breaking the silence.

Bruce looked over at her with a confused look on his face. "I've talked to you about what it was like before."

"Yeah but you told me about that when you were the Hulk, not when you were Bruce Banner. I am curious to know what _you_ thought about the whole experience."

Bruce paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words to describe it. "It felt like I wasn't completely me at the time." He eventually replied. "It was like I was there and I was conscious the whole time but I wasn't the one making my decisions. It was like I was a spectator for my own life."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, it was even worse when my anger took control. It was like everything went red and I couldn't tell what was going on until I calmed down."

"And how do you feel now?" she asked.

Bruce took another sip of his glass before saying, "I feel the same but different. I am definitely the one making my decisions again but at the same time, it's like there is someone, inside of me, that is watching every choice I make." Bruce then looked in her eyes and smiled. "On the plus side, I feel more in control then I have in a long time. There isn't a constant struggle inside myself to stop me from snapping at any moment. Still….." he paused and looked down.

"What?" she asked.

Bruce let out a sigh before continuing. "I feel like something is missing. Like I am not me. At least, not completely."

There was another silence between them before Betty said, "Bruce," she then reached over, put her hand on his cheek and slowly turning his head to face her. "Listen to me, there is nothing missing. This, the man you are now, is who you were always meant to be."

Bruce smiled. "I know, Thanks Betty." he said, appreciating her reassurance. "This is just going to take some getting used to. As I said earlier, I feel like I'm me again but at the same time it feels like something is off. It's probably due to the fact that I was the Hulk for so long. I have forgotten what it was like to be Bruce Banner. I'm sure I will be fine. Eventually, I will get use to being myself aga-" he stopped when he felt Betty wrapping her arms around him. "Betty? What's the matter?" he asked.

"I am glad you're back Bruce. I missed you." she said as she squeezed him tighter, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Bruce also wrapped his arms around her.

"I missed you too Betty." He replied.

When he was the Hulk, he rarely risked hugging any human, let alone Betty, out of fear that he might hurt them. Holding her now, even though it had been a long time since he had done it, felt so familiar.

 _'I could stay like this forever.'_ He thought to himself.

As he held her in his arms, Bruce started thinking about how much of Betty's life she had dedicated to researching how to fix him. If she had never done all that for him, who knows what she could have done with her life? She could have lived a normal life, had lots of friends and maybe even started a family. She might have even had a better relationship with her father if she had never meet him. It hurt him thinking about how much he had affected her life.

"I'm sorry." he whispered into her ear, squeezing her tighter.

"About what Bruce?" she whispered back.

"I am sorry you gave up so much of your life trying to figure out how to make me human again." he replied. "If things had been different, I feel you could have had a much better life."

Betty pulled back from the hug slightly. "My research didn't go to waste, did it? It worked, you're human again."

"Yeah but if you had never meet me you might have had a-" he was cut off when she placed her lips on his. His eyes widened at first, caught off guard by the sudden contact but he soon relaxed and kissed her back. He had missed the feeling of being intimate with Betty. Just like with the hug, the feeling felt very familiar.

Betty broke the kiss and pulled back so that she and Bruce were looking at each other, eye to eye. "Bruce, I would not take back anything I did in order to help you, do you understand?" she said, more like she was telling him then asking. "I care about you Bruce and seeing you like this again makes everything I did feel validated."

Bruce smiled at her words. However, there was still a part of him that still had some guilt. No matter what she said, he felt like he couldn't make up for all she had done for him.

As if sensing what Bruce was thinking about, she said, "If you really want to make it up to me, you can start by taking me out to dinner. How does tomorrow night sound?"

That response made Bruce smile. "That's a good idea. I think I know just the place."

Betty smiled back and said, "Let me guess, 'Gamma Burger'?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I watch Rick's web series, remember? I see you guys eating there all the time." she replied. "It doesn't sound like the most romantic place in the world but it will do. I must admit, I have wanted to try their food for a while now."

Bruce chuckled. "I am sure you will love It. There burgers are the best." he said. Bruce leaned in to give her another kiss. He froze just before touching her lips when there was a loud bang on the door.

"What's going on in there?!" called Red as he continued to bang on the door. "You better not be doing anything funny with my daughter little man!"

Betty giggled at the reaction on Bruce's face. It wasn't so much fear on his face, like her father was intending for him to feel. It was more like he had a pout on his face in annoyance about the fact that her father had interrupted him before he could kiss her. It was cute seeing that look on his face. "How do you think father is going to react when he finds out about the two of us getting back together?" she asked.

 _'So we are back together again.'_ Bruce thought. It made him happy hearing those words.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to It." he replied, giving her a peck on the lips before embracing her again. It was true that it was going to take some time getting use to being Bruce again but he was sure that he had made the right decision. Also, with Betty's help, he was certain he would feel normal being Bruce again soon.

The End


End file.
